is this the end of the office? “With the risk of a second wave, we may


start to see people putting clauses into their office or rental agreements if they have to


shut up shop very quickly or unexpectedly” Dan Kramer, Kramer Sullivan


those who had got used to not going into the office but still wanted a professional environment: a sort of post-Covid form of hot-desking. Founder Neil Fullbrook said: “Working


from the kitchen table or sofa aren’t long-term solutions”, adding: “This workplace revolution is here to stay, and by offering local desks in local businesses for local people, we’re helping potentially thousands to cut the commute.”


T


ech companies, as you’d imagine, were early adopters of home working. Twitter announced early


on that their employees will never have to go back to the office if they don’t want to. A TUC survey as early April confirmed that 39 per cent of workers were concerned about safe distancing from colleagues in the event of a return. This was partly fuelled by many of the new practices we had become accustomed to elsewhere, such as directional floor signage, increased hand sanitisation and screening. Meanwhile, a YouGov poll revealed a host of concerns about the sort of preparation needed to work remotely and effectively. Companies cited IT, infrastructure and communications as the biggest problems, such as ensuring staff had the right equipment or relevant,


12 SME magazine


compatible programmes and access to the right sort of training. Another, this time, global, poll from


Leesman, a leader in insights into workplace effectiveness, involved more than 700,000 employees and found that, of the 139,778 in its UK index, 55 per cent had little or no experience working from home, compared with 52 per cent globally, suggesting the UK was one of the least prepared countries to deal with a mass home-working. One thing is certain. The past few months have either challenged the basic conventions of office life or changed it completely. Office contracts may even have to be reviewed to account for a changing work environment. “People might start to add pandemic clauses into their office agreements,” said Dan Kramer of the Holborn-based litigation finance firm, Kramer Sullivan. “Many people have been tied into difficult or expensive lease contracts or rental agreements when Coronavirus hit and it has had a profound impact on many retailers, restaurants and those working in offices. “With the pending risk of a second


wave, we may start to see people putting specific clauses into their office or rental agreements if they have to shut up shop very quickly or unexpectedly. This would


certainly help people save money and in some places, save their business from going under.” Paul Seddon, founder of Office


Reality, said: The impact of Covid-19 has challenged the conventions of the office building and will accelerate the implementation of different working styles. In an article for SMEWeb, his firm


created what they saw as a visual representation of a typical office layout, updated for a post-Covid world. It included a one-way flow at entry


and exit points, floor-standing partition screens, increased personal storage, desktop screens to reduce face-to-face contact and free-standing pods for when privacy is needed. He even suggested a Honeycomb-


style booth which minimises face-to- face working by ensuring modular workstations are positioned facing away from each other. And as for the tea round, that’s


no more likely to be encouraged than a natter at the water cooler. “Forget those,” he said. “It may be a case of making it for yourself and using your own mug. A kettle may be replaced with a hot tap as they are faster and more efficient, decreasing the time employees may spend in the kitchen.”n


www.smeweb.com


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